Boys volleyball: Elgin bounces back to down Larkin

Maybe it was nerves, but for whatever reason Elgin looked shaky in the first set against Larkin, dropping it 25-16. But the Maroons quickly regrouped and took the boys volleyball match from their crosstown rival Tuesday, 16-15, 25-19, 25-21.

Luis Ramos knocked down 8 kills to lead the way for Elgin in the Upstate Eight River matchup at Chesbrough Field House.

The teams played for the second time in four days after meeting in Elgin's tournament on Saturday. Elgin won that one, too.

It didn't show early as the Maroons fell behind 7-2 and never caught up. They got as close as 19-15 but could never get over the hump.

"I think we came out really nervous," said Elgin coach Andrew LeGoff. "It was our Pack the Field house night. We had a really big crowd, a lot of family and friends were here. After the first game, I told them, 'Take a deep breath, calm down.' And I feel like they kind of settled into themselves. We gave up a really big lead at the beginning and we just couldn't come up from it. But we got the head start in games 2 and 3, and that was the difference."

Elgin started much faster in the final 2 sets. In Game 2, the Maroons roared out to a 5-1 lead and it was Larkin playing catchup. The Royals got as close as 16-14 on a Grant Hattendorf kill but could get no closer.

"It was really simple mistakes," said Larkin coach Katie Smiley. "It was playing in the net, things that we've been working on all season: too many free balls over when we should have been putting the ball down. This has been kind of our M.O. We have 5 wins right now and every single win we've had we've gone to 3 games. They kind of get themselves down in that pit and they don't know how to clinch the win."

The Royals grabbed an early advantage in set 3, but Elgin rattled off 9 straight points to go up 15-7. Ramos was at the service line for most of the run, contributing a couple of aces as well as a kill. Roman Sentowski and Brian Cedillo chipped in with kills during that spurt.

Elgin led just 21-20 after a Hattendorf ace but kills by Ramos and Antonio Sanchez Lopez got Elgin back on track as they won 4 of the last 5 points.

Hattendorf finished with a team-high 7 kills for Larkin, while Carlos Santos added 5. Josue Mendez (39 assists) and Manny Delgado (38) evenly split setting duties, while Justin Ave anchored the defense with 27 digs.

Sanchez Lopez added 4 kills for Elgin.